Round 7 Feature Match: Aaron Luong vs. Kevin Silva

January 10th, 2010

Like many other Duelists in the tournament, Kevin Silva is running Zombies. However, unlike most other plays, Silva is using “Supervise” and “Il Blud” in his Deck to swarm the field with Special Summons even faster than the typical Zombie Deck. His opponent, Aaron Luong, is running a Lightsworn Deck.

Kevin Silva won the dice roll and chose to go first. He opened up with “Plaguespreader Zombie,” “Book of Moon,” “Necro Gardna,” “Dark Armed Dragon,” “Goblin Zombie,” and “Mystical Space Typhoon.” He Set “Goblin Zombie” and “Mystical Space Typhoon” before ending his turn.

Luong drew a card and then Summoned “Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress” as his opening play. He used it to attack and destroyed Silva’s “Goblin Zombie.” Silva searched his Deck for “Zombie Master” and added it to his hand with “Goblin Zombie’s” effect. In Luong’s End Phase he sent “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior,” “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin,” and “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel” to Graveyard with Lyla’s effect.

Silva drew “Brain Control” next turn! He Summoned “Zombie Master” and then activated its effect, discarding “Plaguespreader Zombie” to Special Summon it back to the field. Then he tuned them together for “Goyo Guardian” and Special Summoned “Dark Armed Dragon.” He activated “Brain Control” next, taking control of Luong’s Lyla by paying 800 Life Points. Then he put “Necro Gardna” on top of his Deck to Special Summon “Plaguespreader Zombie” from his Graveyard and Tuned it Lyla to Synchro Summon “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier.” All 3 monsters attacked and Luong dropped to 100 Life Points! Silva ended his turn after setting his last in-hand card: “Book of Moon.”

Luong activated “Heavy Storm” next turn and destroyed Silva’s Set “Mystical Space Typhoon” and “Book of Moon.” Then he activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” and sent “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid,” “Honest,” and “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” to the Graveyard as a cost. He searched for Lumina with the effect of “Charge of the Light Brigade” and then Summoned it to the field. He activated Lumina’s effect by discarding “Necro Gardna” and Special Summoned “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior.” He ended his turn by sending 5 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in his End Phase. None of them were Lightsworn monsters, but he did send a second “Necro Gardna” to the Graveyard.

On Silva’s next turn, he removed both of his DARK monsters from the Graveyard (“Zombie Master” and “Goblin Zombie”) with the effect of “Dark Armed Dragon” to destroy both of Luong’s Lightsworn monsters. Then he discarded “Necro Gardna” from his hand with “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier” to return Luong’s face-down Spell or Trap Card back to his hand. Luong only had 2 copies of “Necro Gardna” in his Graveyard and they couldn’t stop all 3 attacks – Luong conceded, knowing that either Brionac, Goyo, or Dark Armed would take his last 100 Life Points.

Silva wins the first Duel in just a couple of turns! Both players Side Decked and Luong chose to begin the second Duel.

He began his turn by activating “Solar Recharge.” He discarded “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid” to draw 2 cards and send “Honest” and “Dark Armed Dragon” from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard. Then he activated “Charge of the Light Brigade” to send 3 more cards from the top of his Deck to the Graveyard and search for “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” to add to his hand. Next, he activated another “Charge of the Light Brigade”! He sent “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast,” “Necro Gardna,” and “Judgment Dragon” from the top of his Deck to the Graveyard as a cost and then searched his Deck for “Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior” to add to his hand. Wulf was Special Summoned. Luong Summoned “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” and then discarded Honest to Special Summon Aurkus from his Graveyard. With exactly 4 fairies in his Graveyard, he Special Summoned “Archlord Kristya” and returned “Honest” to his hand! He Set one card to his Spell and Trap Zone and then ended his turn after sending 5 more cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard.

Silva opened up with “Mystic Tomato,” 2 copies of “Goblin Zombie,” “Bottomless Trap Hole,” “Pyramid Turtle,” and “Torrential Tribute.” He Set 1 monster and both Trap Cards before ending his turn. In his End Phase, Luong flipped “Royal Decree.” Silva could no longer depend on his “Torrential Tribute” to clear Luong’s field of 4 monsters. After drawing his card for the turn, Luong attacked “Goblin Zombie” with “Wulf, Lightsworn Beast.” Silva searched his Deck for “Spirit Reaper” after it went to the Graveyard. Then Aurkus, Lumina, and Kristya attacked directly and dropped Silva down to 3000 Life Points. Luong Set 1 card to his Spell and Trap Zone and then sent 5 more cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard in the End Phase.

Silva drew “Sangan” next turn and Set “Spirit Reaper” before ending. He was depending on that Reaper to keep him in the game.

Luong attacked Reaper with Kristya next turn and then passed, unable to destroy it. He sent 5 more cards from the top of his Deck to the Graveyard in his End Phase due to the effects of Lumina and Aurkus.

Silva drew “Book of Life” next turn and Set it face-down as a bluff. He also Set “Sangan.” He ended his turn, still protected by “Spirit Reaper.”

Luong drew a card and then Set 1 card to his Spell and Trap Zone before ending his turn. The card he had drawn still couldn’t destroy Silva’s Reaper. He sent 5 more cards from the top of his Deck to the Graveyard in his End Phase. His Deck was thinning fast.

Silva drew “Burial from a Different Dimension” next turn and Set it along with another monster. He ended his turn, still stalling behind his Reaper.

Luong drew a card and gave an agonized look. He still couldn’t deal with Silva’s “Spirit Reaper” and there was only 1 card left in his Deck! He conceded, knowing that his Lumina and Aurkus would strip him of the rest of the cards in his Deck in his End Phase, and he would be unable to draw a card next turn.

Kevin Silva earns a quick victory against Aaron Luong, as Luong’s Lightsworn Deck decks out, and Silva’s moving on in the tournament with an undefeated record!

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See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.

Michael Kohanim(2009 World Championship Competitor)

In Duel 2, Silva realized that his field was outmatched by Luong’s 4 monsters and he didn’t stand a chance if he took the offensive. Instead, he searched his Deck for “Spirit Reaper” with the hope of decking out Luong. It was a great play. Luong was sending 5 cards from the top of his Deck to his Graveyard each turn, plus he couldn’t target any Lightsworn monsters because of Aurkus. He couldn’t Special Summon “Judgment Dragon” or Brionac either, due to the effect of “Archlord Kristya.” That means Celestia was one of the few cards in Luong’s Deck (maybe the only card) that could prevent him from decking out. Searching for “Spirit Reaper” when you’re in trouble may seem like an obvious play at times, but in Silva’s situation, it was actually game-winning because Luong locked himself out of the match.

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Matt Peddle (2009 Canadian National Championship Runner-Up; Five-Time Top 8 National Finalist)

In the first Duel, Silva reduces his opponent’s Life Points to 100 on the second turn of the Duel. This isn’t a bad play against Lightsworn Decks, because without enough Life Points to use “Judgment Dragon” and with no Lightsworn Monster on the field, they usually can’t come back or defend themselves from defeat next turn. Sure enough, that’s what happened and Silva goes on to win.

However, Silva could have won that turn, instead of crippling his opponent! If he’d Synchro Summoned “Doomkaiser Dragon” or “Revived King Ha Des” for his first Synchro Monster and then Synchro Summoned for “Goyo Guardian” afterwards he could have won the Duel on that turn. Instead he gave his opponent a chance to come back, which you never want to do.

A couple things should always be thought about when making a huge push such as the one Silva did during game 1 of this match: “What am I facing?” and “How can I be punished for swarming this early?” It only takes one Life Point to win a Duel, and when facing a Deck like Lightsworn, there are a million and one things the Deck can do to punish you for pushing too far, but not far enough to win. I’m sure Silva recognized this and was able to decide that the chance of Luong having a defense against his push was low enough to be worth the push.

During game 2, Luong’s own “Archlord Kristya” may have been ruining his chances of getting by Silva’s “Spirit Reaper” by halting his own Special Summons. With no “Ehren, Lightsworn Monk” or “Celestia, Lightsworn Angel” to eliminate the barrier, Luong was forced to slowly watch the game slip away.

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P.J. Tierney(Duelist from across The Pond)

Silva won the first Duel, but when he made his big play he could have won it then and there. After Special Summoning “Plaguespreader Zombie” with its effect, he Synchro Summoned “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier,” which has 2300 ATK. If he had brought out “Goyo Guardian” instead, which has 2800 ATK, he could have ended the Duel right away, instead of giving Luong a chance to make a comeback.